Quote:Josh Medlin, a second-year student at Earlham, took credit for the pie throwing there. But he has refused requests for interviews. The Wayne County prosecutor is investigating his actions. He may face battery charges.

This leaves the pie-throwing defense to Aron Kay, of Brooklyn.

Now 55, the former hippie/yippie threw pies with the best of them during the 1970s. Among his hits: Phyllis Schlafly, E. Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy. He never wore a mask, either.

He contacted Medlin, but Medlin would not talk to him, he said.

Pie-throwing, he said, has a great tradition. "Look at The Three Stooges."

So what does he do, now that the '70s are long gone -- and he is a grandfather? "I am involved with political organizing," he said. "I helped to organize the Million Marijuana March around the country this year."

David Horowitz, a conservative self-described agitator, was on stage Thursday, doing his thing. "Spewing a remarkable load of venom," said Washington.

Others heard a different message. Horowitz was invited by the Young Republicans at Butler University to discuss a pet topic -- what he calls the fascist atmosphere on the nation's campuses and suppression of all but liberal-think.

Washington saw them, out of the corner of his eye: two "masked apparitions in black," seemingly floating up on stage and bearing a yellow banner -- a fitting color. Their appearance was the cue for a third party to enter stage-right, also masked.

Then came the pie. Horowitz got it smack in the face.

Thus was the stage set at Butler and beyond last week for another round of pastry wars. Neoconservative William Kristol was rendered momentarily pie-eyed at Earlham College in Richmond on March 29 when a student creamed him.

So what is the upshot of all this pie flying through the Midwestern sky?

There's the usual media foaming at the mouth -- conservative commentators have rightly talked these attacks up on radio, TV and blogs. There's the public backlash, in which our powerful rich white males are cast as victims, and in fact are. College leaders are justifiably embarrassed. They've had to apologize while trying to refute charges that their campuses are intolerant. Finally, the police are on the case. Pie-throwing is assault, technically speaking.

Washington knows all this. Hence his mixed feelings.

He had come to hear an old nemesis, expecting the worst. He was not disappointed. Horowitz's speech was "bombastic, full of insults, unsubstantiated and sophomoric."

But the pie-throwing, while momentarily satisfying, like a rich dessert, left a bad aftertaste. "I don't believe in physical attacks of any sort," he said. Washington blames the pie throwing on anarchists. He won't name names.

"I am not particularly happy with the anarchists' approach," he said. "It is second-rate theater for the most part. And I don't agree with masking."

As for the pie-throwers themselves, the little rascals are maddeningly silent. Police are investigating. The word is that they are not students, although one student was involved.

Josh Medlin, a second-year student at Earlham, took credit for the pie throwing there. But he has refused requests for interviews. The Wayne County prosecutor is investigating his actions. He may face battery charges.

This leaves the pie-throwing defense to Aron Kay, of Brooklyn.

Now 55, the former hippie/yippie threw pies with the best of them during the 1970s. Among his hits: Phyllis Schlafly, E. Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy. He never wore a mask, either.

He contacted Medlin, but Medlin would not talk to him, he said.

Pie-throwing, he said, has a great tradition. "Look at The Three Stooges."

So what does he do, now that the '70s are long gone -- and he is a grandfather? "I am involved with political organizing," he said. "I helped to organize the Million Marijuana March around the country this year."

Like Washington said, surreal.

Ruth Holladay's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. You can reach her at (317) 444-6405 or via e-mail at
ruth.holladay@... .